Processes LC-fining

C-E Lummus/Cities Service LC-Fining process licensed by AMOCO (van Driesen and Fornoff, 1985 Beaton et al., 1986) utilizes an expanded-bed reactor. A flow diagram of the LC-Fining process is shown in Fig. 17. The Canadian DOE CANMET process (Menzies et al., 1981), the Exxon M-Coke (Bearden and Aldridge, 1981), and the UOP Aurabon (Anderson et al., 1982) processes now in pilot plant stages of development employ slurry reactors. 

The LC-Fining process is a hydrogenation process capable of desulfurizing, demetallizing, and upgrading a wide spectrum of heavy feedstocks (Tables 9-12 and 9-13) by means of an expanded bed reactor (Fomoff, 1982 Reich et al., 1993 Hydrocarbon Processing, 1998). 

The LC-Fining process has been applied to desulfurization of bitumen extracted from the Athabasca tar sands (Bishop, 1990). In one reported instance, a low-solids bitumen and a high-solids bitumen were employed as feedstocks whereupon good conversion of the bitumen to lower-sulfur products was noted... 

LC-Fining process a hydrogenation process capable of desulfurizing, demetallizing and upgrading heavy feedstocks by means of an expanded bed reactor. 

Two moving bed processes are available for license, and include the H-Oil process developed by Hydrocarbon Research Inc. and the LC-Fining process developed by Cities Service and C-E Lummus. 

In addition to scale-up difficulties, there are a number of problems related to the stable operation of a bubble column associated with hydrodynamics. For example, consider the important commercial application of bubble columns in hydroprocessing of petroleum resids, heavy oils and synthetic crudes. Hydrodynamic cold flow and hot flow studies on the Exxon Donor Solvent coal liquefaction process (Tarmy et al., 1984) showed that much of the literature correlations for the hydrodynamic parameters (holdup, interfacial area and dispersion coefficients) obtained with cold flow units, at ambient conditions, are not applicable for commercial units operating at relatively higher pressures. In addition, the flow pattern in commercial units was considerably different. In the hydroprocessing of petroleum residues by the H-Oil and LC-Fining processes, refinery operations have experienced problems with nonuniform distribution of gas and liquid reactants across the distributor, maintaining stable fluidization and preventing temperature excursions (Beaton et al., 1986, Fan, 1989 and Embaby, 1990). Catalyst addition, withdrawal and elutriation have also been identified as problems in these hydrotreaters. 

The principle of an ebulliating catalyst bed is embodied in some proprietary designs, in contrast with the fixed-catalyst beds used in other versions of hydrocracking. The H-Oil process of Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. and the LC-Fining process jointly licensed by ABB Lummus Crest Inc., Oxy Research Development Co., and Amoco Corp. are examples of... 

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